HO HO HO!!!!!!!!!!
It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!
Yes, it's true...it snowed today in Chicago!
And here is some proof...

Okies on the loose in Chicago!

This weekend we were invaded by Okies! Uncle Carl and Amma (Robert's mom Cindy) visited us in Chicago. We had planned to see the King Tut exhibit at the Field museum, but it was sold out. It all worked out, though, because we went to the Shedd Aquarium. As you can see, the big exhibit right now is KOMODO DRAGONS!

Uncle Carl never changes. I tried 5 times to get a normal picture of him. The Sears Tower in the background looks cool, though.

Here is Amma with the boys, after a full day of fish and lizards. Lots of fun, except that Zion broke out in a terrible rash in the middle of the day, which lasted the whole weekend.

AWWWWWWW...you can tell we are related!

Uncle Carl helped Zion with his piano lesson. Caleb and Zion were impressed that he plays piano, too!

We had a great time overall, even though the visit was too short. Carl, stay longer next time! We have so much more to do in Chicago! We want to let our other friends and family know that the door is open anytime!

Y'all come back now, y'here?

A bunch of new pictures!

School is going well! Dad and Mom both get to walk the kids to school many days. You can see by the jackets that we are definitely getting to autumn in Chicago.

Ray School Open House was Wednesday night. Caleb is in the same room as last year, with the same teacher and only 3 new students. He had an excellent report from Ms. Annorh--we are looking forward to a great year with her!
Zion's teacher is very nice. She said Zion is starting to talk more now, but that he is generally very quiet in school. He likes his new friends Ben and Julian. His friend Catherine is in the room, too, but they pretend to not talk to each other!

I finally recovered Grandma Hannah's rocking chair with nicer material! I think it turned out great!

Saturday morning, Caleb and Zion and their friend Kato. They had every single Lego spread on the floor...looks like fun!

First day of school!

Today was the big day - back to school!
Caleb was pretty low-key about it. He is in the same classroom with the same teacher (she cycles up with her class). So he was happy to see his friends after a long summer.

Caleb's shirt says "I do all my own stunts". Shirts with sayings on them are "the thing" this year, but it was hard to find something Mom and Dad agreed with !

Here is Zion on his first day of kindergarten! He did really well (he is usually pretty laid-back about stuff). He did cling to my arm a bit when he saw all the kids on the playground. Ray School has 800 students, K through 6th! Notice he chose his tie-dyed Hideaway Pizza shirt for the first day! What a cool kid.

Here is me, trying hard not to leave the classroom. :-) Zion was happy to be sitting near his friend Cate Salinas. After coffee and donuts with the other parents, I peeked in the room. Zion was happily making a necklace with beads and string. I think he'll do fine today!

I have the coolest Grandma ever!

Here she is, with her crazy girlfriends! Grandma Arlene is the cute one in the middle wearing lavender. Just for comparison (and a good laugh), here is a picture of Grandma and me, many years ago!

I hope when I am a grandma I look as good as she does!

Fun stuff in Chicago!

This is a great time of year in Chicago! The beaches are still open until Labor Day, and the weather is mostly wonderful. There are neighborhood festivals almost every weekend, somewhere in the city. This weekend we went to the Greek Fest at St. Demetrios Church. They sure know how to party! And we thought Lutherans were cool with their Oktoberfests! Ha! The Greek Fest was a rockin' good time with a band, Ouzo shots, Greek wine, baklava, and every kind of Greek food you could want.

Last weekend we took advantage of a lovely day and walked down 55th street to the Point. This is one of my favorite spots!

Here are the guys, standing at Lake Michigan with the Chicago skyline in the background.

La Leche League International kicked off its 50th anniversary year with a picnic in Wilder Park - the same park where the 7 Founders met for the first meeting! I was so excited to live close enough to be there.

Here they are! All 7 Founders. Amazing that they are all still able to be here for the celebration.

Wilder Park!

Here I am with two of the founders of LLLI: Betty Wagner is on the left - not sure which one is one the right! Oops!

Old Friends

Houston (Hans) and his wife Melissa and very cute baby Sage!

Last night I was lucky enough to see two old high school friends right here in Chicago! Hans lives here now, and Becky was here for a business trip (she lives in Boston). We had loads of fun reminiscing about crazy high school and college days.


Old buddies, reunited! Don't we look good??

Becky and I really need to stop copying each other's hairstyles. I think we look fantastic, though!

Karate masters

Caleb and Zion spent a good deal of the day on Thursday "sparring" with friends Anthony, Nathan, and Ella. We also did some tie-dying! Anthony, Nathan and Ella's mom (Jennie) also gave Caleb and Zion some much-needed haircuts. Lots of fun!

My sweet Zion...

Snaggletooth is gone!

We were all so happy to see Caleb's front tooth fall out! The tooth fairy was kind and brought him money for the other tooth that was "lost" on the bathroom floor as well as this top tooth! Caleb is still afraid to use his front teeth at all, so he often sports some of his lunch on his cheeks from trying to eat with only his back teeth... (see above picture!)

Caleb is home!!

We are so glad that Caleb is home!! He came home nice and brown, with a snaggle-toothed grin (that top tooth NEEDS to come out!!) and of course you will notice the anti-BUSH pin. It turns out that Gabriel's grandpa is a political activist and they had a booth at the fair they visited in Wisconsin.

Here is a list of the cool stuff Caleb did this week:
* canoeing * visiting the Wisconsin State Fair * strawberry picking * a sleepover at Gabriel's friend's house * going on a night walk * fishing * toasting marshmallows * staying up late * visiting the Candy Tree

WELCOME BACK CALEB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicago Architecture Boat Tour

Saturday we went on a boat tour of Chicago with the wedding party of Augustana's church secretary. What a treat! Zion loved being on the boat, and he especially loved seeing all the buildings. It was neat to look up at the Sears tower! We also saw the new Trump building in its first stages. It was HOT, but the breeze on the lake made it pleasant.




And, finally...I finished piecing my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top! Only 8 years in the making! Unfortunately, now it needs to be quilted. I am thinking an old-fashioned quilting bee would be nice. If only I had some quilting friends...

Caleb's last day of 1st grade!

Caleb's day started with losing a tooth not once, but twice! He lost a bottom tooth that has been hanging on for weeks now, and then...he dropped it on the bathroom floor and lost it a second time!! We never did find it, but we are pretty sure the tooth fairy will find him anyway.

Today was also Caleb's last day of 1st grade! The entire Ray school (800+ kids!) were outside for a picnic. It was a party, complete with a mariachi band!

I was sure to get a picture of Caleb with some of his friends. The picture here is of Genesis, Caleb, Patrick and Muqsit. He is also good buddies with Jason and Hao, but I couldn't get them to stand still long enough to get a picture!




Caleb really likes his teacher, Ms. Annorh. That's good, because she will be his teacher again next year! Their entire class will cycle up with Ms. Annorh for 2nd grade. Can't wait til next year!
Finally, here is a picture of Zion's big boo-boo! He kissed the sidewalk pretty hard on Sunday night. He has matching scrapes on his shoulder. OUCH!

FROGS!

Sunday morning we went to a special free showing of the new Frog exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was so fun to walk there, eat a donut, see some frogs, and take the bus back in time for church at 10:45! We felt like we had a full day by then! Here are our little frogs: